TAIPEI, Taiwan – Voters were deciding Saturday whether to stick with a party that has struggled to improve ties with rival China or switch to one promising peace with the island’s giant neighbor.

Taiwan’s opposition Nationalist Party presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou shakes hands with supporters as he parades through neighborhoods of Taipei, Taiwan, Friday, March 21, 2008. Taiwan’s presidential candidates Ma and ruling party Democratic Progressive Party’s Frank Hsieh are canvassing the island one day before Taiwan will hold its fourth directly-elected presidential poll on Saturday, March 22, 2008.(AP Photo/Wally Santana)

Just two weeks ago, opposition candidate Ma Ying-jeou seemed ready to cruise to victory, promising to improve relations with China and even work toward a common market with the Communist country.

But ruling party candidate Frank Hsieh appears to have been closing the gap. His party used the last day of campaigning to fan outrage over China’s crackdown in Tibet.

Hsieh warns that China’s crackdown in Tibet could be replicated in Taiwan, which split from the mainland amid civil war in 1949. Beijing still considers the island to be part of its territory and has threatened to attack if Taiwan rejects unification and seeks a permanent break.

“If Ma is elected, Taiwan’s future will be in danger,” Hsieh told a cheering crowd at a rally Friday in the southern city of Chiayi. “It will be the same for China to attack Tibet or Taiwan because it will be China’s domestic issue.”